NCERT Class 9 Solutions: Clothing: A Social History (India and the Contemporary World-I) Chapter 8– Part 2

Q-3. Give an example of any two examples of the ways in which European dress codes were different from Indian dress codes.

Answer:

European dress codes were different from Indian dress codes in many ways but here are two major differences:

Turban and the hat were two key pieces of headwear different between the Indian. Not only the two headgears looked different from each other but they also show different things. The Indian turban was not just use for the purpose of protection from the heat but it was also signified respectability and could not be removed. Where as in the western tradition before social superiors the hat had to be removed as a sign of respect.

In India the “kurat paijama” was the dress of choice for the elite class, whereas in the western world coat and trousers signified eliteness was

Indian Turban and European Hat

Indian Turban and European hat

The other example is shoe. The Indians remove their shoes when they entered a sacred place whereas the British did not remove their shoe at all.

Q-4. In 1805, a British official, Benjamin Heyne, listed the manufactures in Bangalore which included the following:

Women’s cloth of different musters and names

Coarse chintz

Muslins

Silk cloths

Of this list, which kind of cloth would have definitely fallen out of use in the early 1900s and why?

Answer:

Muslin would not be used in early 1900 because it was made by traditional craftsman on handloom. It was a very fine cloth which could not be manufactured using machines in the west (Manchester).

Handloom made muslin became more expensive than cheap machine made cloth coming from Manchester and hence would have faced reduced demand.

Silk on the other hand was favored by elite and hence would still have been used, no matter how expensive.

Coarse chintz was cheap cloth worn mostly by servants of the British. With growing poverty it must have been in use.

Women’s cloth of different musters means variety of unclassified clothing. They had a big market in the India because they were also used by extremely poor.